Nashville's Christian film industry helps Hollywood market genre across the country

Oct. 27, 2013

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The Tennessean

Barry Landis, left, and Bill Reeves co-own Franklin-based Working Title Agency, which employs several veterans of the Christian music industry. There is a significant crossover in the faith-based film and music industries. / Steven S. Harman / The Tennessean

Closer look

Grace Unplugged: Marketed by Franklin firm Working Title Agency and distributed by Roadside Attractions from Los Angeles, the film released in October and grossed $2.17 million Courageous: Released by AFFIRM Films and Provident Films in 2011, the film was marketed by Franklin firm Propeller. It grossed $34 million at the box office. Soul Surfer: Released by AFFIRM Films and marketed by Propeller, the surfing film grossed $43 million at the box office.

Keeping Faith

A snapshot of the Nashville area’s faith-based film industry AFFIRM FilmsFamily, faith-based, inspirational division of Sony Pictures, run by Williamson County’s Rich Peluso Provident FilmsDivision of Provident Music Group with four employees specializing in marketing and distributing faith-based films PropellerBranding, licensing, development and marketing firm in Franklin with 10 employees Working Title AgencyDevelopment and marketing agency specializing in faith-based films and books

When “The Passion of the Christ” grossed $1 billion in international box office and home movie sales, a light bulb went on in Hollywood that there is money to be made in the faith-based film industry.

And when a Georgia church’s homemade 2006 film, “Facing the Giants,” raked in more than $50 million after a production budget of less than $1 million, the lightbulb became a giant flashing neon dollar sign.

But, while Hollywood studios and independent production companies across the country had mastered how to make a faith-themed movie, they knew very little about marketing their films to the churches, youth groups and Christian retailers they needed to reach key audiences across the country. And so, Hollywood turned to Nashville.

In the past 10 years, the faith-based film industry has exploded in Nashville, with Sony Pictures establishing a presence here and marketing firms born out of the Christian music industry using their relationships with churches across the country to turn modest independent productions into multimillion-dollar successes.

From “Fireproof” ($33 million box office) to “Courageous” ($34 million) to “Soul Surfer” ($43 million), many of the Christian films are skewered by critics or slip past the mainstream movie media all together. But with targeted marketing by Nashville-area firms such as Propeller, Working Title Agency and Provident Films, the movies are resonating with Christian audiences and bringing healthy profits.

“I fully understand and respect that Sony Pictures is not in a ministry,” said Rich Peluso, senior vice president of AFFIRM Films, a faith and family division of Sony. “They’re a business. They are corporately responsible to their investors and their customers. Their goal is to provide quality entertainment at an attractive price that generates a strong return for their investors.

“I get that. But what I love is the fact Sony is smart and they’ve said, ‘This is a valuable space where quality can be created and we can get a good return on investment.’ But it also meets missional objections that I, and several of my team, have.”

Niche marketing targets believers

Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” created the blueprint for how films can be marketed unconventionally using grassroots techniques. Gibson showed early screenings of the film to church congregations across the country and received rave reviews.

While mainstream media pundits wrung its hands about the literal interpretation of Jesus’ death and resurrection, a fervor built up in the Christian community to see the movie. People who attended the early screenings spread the word about the film and congregations went out in droves.

In the end, the film did $370 million domestically at the box office, an additional $241 million at the foreign box office and $400 million in home video sales. That adds up to over $1 billion.

But while “Passion” grabbed the headlines, a better example of grassroots targeted marketing is “Facing the Giants.” Produced by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., the movie cost less than $1 million to film and market. In the end, the movie grossed more than $10 million at the domestic box office and $20 million more on home video.

“The marketing on ‘Facing the Giants’ was city by city, church by church, ministry by ministry, youth group by youth group, retailer by retailer,” said Dan Merrell, co-founder, president and CEO of Propeller.

Nashville area firms lead the way

Merrell’s company is one of several Nashville area firms that specialize in such marketing. Propeller, which started as a branding company but now sees about 80 percent of its business from faith-based film marketing and promotions, is located in Franklin and has 10 employees.

Merrell has started a new venture called Seatzy that predicts sales outcomes and tracks the results of marketing efforts by tracking the number of pre-sale tickets purchased for a film. Merrell, a self-described stat geek, said he especially tracks a film’s revenue per screen, an important metric in faith-based films that often are released in fewer markets than mainstream movies.

Another heavyweight agency in the world of marketing faith-based films is Working Title Agency, also in Franklin.

Working Title helps creatives bring movies and books to life and assists in all levels of marketing the products to faith-based audiences.

“We spend a vast majority of our time marketing films and working with the studios,” said co-founder and owner Bill Reeves, who previously worked in Christian music and for Big Idea Productions, the company that created the popular “Veggie Tales” series. “We get hired by the studios to activate the red states, really. New York and Los Angeles creatives will admit to you they don’t really understand the red states, and our job is to help them get those folks out to see their movies.”

Reeves’ partner and Working Title Agency co-owner Barry Landis said Nashville is full of people who previously made their living in Christian music and now work in the faith-based film industry. Landis is the former president of Word Records.

Landis started a local networking group called the Nashville Faith in Film Breakfast Club, which now has more than 500 members on its Facebook page and more than 100 regularly attend the meetings. Landis said the Nashville area businesses handles marketing, social media, church engagement, among other functions, to help form the local infrastructure that supports the entire faith-based film industry.

“The Christian audience figured out pretty easily how to publish books and how to make records and even how to get on television,” Landis said. “I think Hollywood was kind of a mystery for a long time. We kind of never knew how to crack that. And when Mel Gibson got shot down by the major studios, he said, ‘OK, no problem. I’ll take care of this one myself.’

“Now that has obviously changed entirely.”

Nashville is home to more than just marketing firms.

Peluso, the senior vice president of AFFIRM, splits his time between Williamson County and a Los Angeles office. He said Nashville’s creative class has been tapped for every aspect of the faith-based film industry, and he hinted at a 2014 project that would be centered here, though he couldn’t delve into details. Sony acquired “Facing the Giants” after it was produced by Sherwood Baptist and then launched AFFIRM because of its success.

Provident Films, a division of Nashville-based Christian music label Provident Music Group, also a Sony subsidiary, specializes in acquiring films and assisting with their marketing and distribution. The company, with four full-time employees, has helped release and market five films that combined for nearly $90 million at the box office.

Leading the way for Provident Films was “Courageous,” which came from the same creative team from Sherwood Baptist.

The success of the growing industry is creating for a crowded faith-based film marketplace moving forward. Besides the continuing stream of independent releases, major films such as Paramount’s “Noah” and Lions­gate’s “Mary Mother of Christ” will be released in the coming years.

“I would say what we have here is a segment of the independent film world,” said Ben Howard, senior vice president of Provident Films. “We have the advantage of having an identifiable audience we can target. The biggest challenge in the film industry is finding your audience.”

Contact music business reporter Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 or nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.